admin
22 December 2023
THIS MONTH: GUNGRAVE
Player One: Das Bork
BAM! Ah,.. the sweet noises of Gungrave. Goddamn, I love killin’ folks! That is what this game is supremely about: senseless violence! This is a true arcade-style shoot \'em up game: no plot, all mayhem. It takes me back to the time I carved two guns out of ivory and brought them to a nunnery back home. Did I mention I like killin’ folk? Yep, I sure do. When I play this game, I find myself going into a trance where there are pink bunnies hopping to the rhythmic beat of my gunfire. Simply beautiful. It\'s not what you think. I’m not crazy. I just like senseless violence and killin’ folk. Is that so wrong? Our beloved president likes it, so why can’t I?
Technology is wonderful, is it not? Without it, I could not kill people in the pleasure of my own home. Gungrave uses technology at its finest, with its qualitative cell-shaded graphics. Some may say that it doesn\'t use the system\'s full potential, but it gives the game a look all its own. Putting bullets precisely between hundreds of people’s eyes is fun. But in Gungrave, a lack in variety in poses, maneuvers, and special attacks makes the killing less entertaining. This game has so much potential in this realm, and it is sad to see that they don’t satisfy my urges to kill in a more creative fashion. Let me take a moment to dream about killin’ folk in a more creative fashion,... Mmmm,.. yeah. That\'s killtastic!
So what else does Gungrave have to offer? The bosses! The bosses are nuts! For instance, one boss is just a torso with a gigantic wheel for an arm. It tries to run you over while grabbing helicopters from the sky. Then it throws said helicopters at you.
The visuals are just as weird as the game. The problem with the bosses is that they are detached from the action feel of the rest of the game. My last beef with the game is the last level. It\'s boring. It looks cool, but you spend most of the time running up stairs. But I still recommend renting the game.
Player Two: Hugh Manatee
What the fuck is this game even about? All I know is that Grave (or “Guuraybuh”, as the all-Japanese cast pronounces it) has come back from the dead in search of revenge. Like the Crow. Or Jimmy Bones. Whatever. Screw plot, screw strategy; this game is all about jumping into the middle of shit and killing everyone in sight, spinning and dodging as your gigantic twin guns put holes in anything in your way.
Simple. Too simple, really; I finished all six levels the second night I played it. With the difficulty on \"maximum\". While drunk. Which reminds me: never play this game with a hangover. The soundtrack consists almost entirely of the singular bass thud of Grave’s excessively loud guns, over and over and over.
Skull-shaking audio aside, there’s a lot to like in those six levels, like the fact that everything Grave does just looks so fucking cool. He practically dances as he returns fire, striking badass gunkata-style poses as he sprays the room with bullets. And the way he walks when not firing his guns, plodding forward slowly and deliberately like an unstoppable killing force from beyond the grave, would be enough to make bad guys soil themselves,.. were they not just pixels on a TV screen.
Come to think of it, everything about the game is practically dripping with style; from the very Cowboy Bebop-ish intro movie, to the game’s cell-shaded anime graphics. That, and a few of the level bosses are the single craziest things this side of Jeff from Scud: The Disposable Assassin. Level three ends with a face-off against a 50-foot arm attached to a giant wheel. I call it the \"fistacycle\". Beat that, Hellraiser!
What really sets this game apart from the crowd, however, is the Beat Counter. No, it’s not a martial arts move that prevents your opponent from masturbating. It’s a tally that goes up with each consecutive bullet that finds its mark. The higher it gets, the higher your score. That’s another cool thing about Gungrave: what was the last game that challenged you to beat your high score? The original Contra?
Gungrave isn’t a bad game. There’s just not much to it. It feels like an extended demo for a game that’s coming out later. It needs more of everything: levels, special moves, and fucked-up bosses. But that’s what sequels are for.
PURCHASE THIS OR SIMILAR ITEMS
Player One: Das Bork
BAM! Ah,.. the sweet noises of Gungrave. Goddamn, I love killin’ folks! That is what this game is supremely about: senseless violence! This is a true arcade-style shoot \'em up game: no plot, all mayhem. It takes me back to the time I carved two guns out of ivory and brought them to a nunnery back home. Did I mention I like killin’ folk? Yep, I sure do. When I play this game, I find myself going into a trance where there are pink bunnies hopping to the rhythmic beat of my gunfire. Simply beautiful. It\'s not what you think. I’m not crazy. I just like senseless violence and killin’ folk. Is that so wrong? Our beloved president likes it, so why can’t I?
Technology is wonderful, is it not? Without it, I could not kill people in the pleasure of my own home. Gungrave uses technology at its finest, with its qualitative cell-shaded graphics. Some may say that it doesn\'t use the system\'s full potential, but it gives the game a look all its own. Putting bullets precisely between hundreds of people’s eyes is fun. But in Gungrave, a lack in variety in poses, maneuvers, and special attacks makes the killing less entertaining. This game has so much potential in this realm, and it is sad to see that they don’t satisfy my urges to kill in a more creative fashion. Let me take a moment to dream about killin’ folk in a more creative fashion,... Mmmm,.. yeah. That\'s killtastic!
So what else does Gungrave have to offer? The bosses! The bosses are nuts! For instance, one boss is just a torso with a gigantic wheel for an arm. It tries to run you over while grabbing helicopters from the sky. Then it throws said helicopters at you.
The visuals are just as weird as the game. The problem with the bosses is that they are detached from the action feel of the rest of the game. My last beef with the game is the last level. It\'s boring. It looks cool, but you spend most of the time running up stairs. But I still recommend renting the game.
Player Two: Hugh Manatee
What the fuck is this game even about? All I know is that Grave (or “Guuraybuh”, as the all-Japanese cast pronounces it) has come back from the dead in search of revenge. Like the Crow. Or Jimmy Bones. Whatever. Screw plot, screw strategy; this game is all about jumping into the middle of shit and killing everyone in sight, spinning and dodging as your gigantic twin guns put holes in anything in your way.
Simple. Too simple, really; I finished all six levels the second night I played it. With the difficulty on \"maximum\". While drunk. Which reminds me: never play this game with a hangover. The soundtrack consists almost entirely of the singular bass thud of Grave’s excessively loud guns, over and over and over.
Skull-shaking audio aside, there’s a lot to like in those six levels, like the fact that everything Grave does just looks so fucking cool. He practically dances as he returns fire, striking badass gunkata-style poses as he sprays the room with bullets. And the way he walks when not firing his guns, plodding forward slowly and deliberately like an unstoppable killing force from beyond the grave, would be enough to make bad guys soil themselves,.. were they not just pixels on a TV screen.
Come to think of it, everything about the game is practically dripping with style; from the very Cowboy Bebop-ish intro movie, to the game’s cell-shaded anime graphics. That, and a few of the level bosses are the single craziest things this side of Jeff from Scud: The Disposable Assassin. Level three ends with a face-off against a 50-foot arm attached to a giant wheel. I call it the \"fistacycle\". Beat that, Hellraiser!
What really sets this game apart from the crowd, however, is the Beat Counter. No, it’s not a martial arts move that prevents your opponent from masturbating. It’s a tally that goes up with each consecutive bullet that finds its mark. The higher it gets, the higher your score. That’s another cool thing about Gungrave: what was the last game that challenged you to beat your high score? The original Contra?
Gungrave isn’t a bad game. There’s just not much to it. It feels like an extended demo for a game that’s coming out later. It needs more of everything: levels, special moves, and fucked-up bosses. But that’s what sequels are for.
PURCHASE THIS OR SIMILAR ITEMS
artid
1416
Old Image
5_10_videogame.jpg
issue
vol 5 - issue 10 (jun 2003)
section
entertainmental